Verstappen leads Leclerc by three tenths in final Italian GP practice

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Max Verstappen was the fastest driver in final practice for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, over three tenths quicker than Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari.

Verstappen’s best time of a 1’21.252 on soft tyres saw him end practice as the quickest driver, however he will be serving a five place grid penalty after this evening’s qualifying session.

It was another sunny, warm afternoon in Monza as the final practice hour got underway. There was no rush for teams to get out onto the circuit, with only Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda heading out in the opening ten minutes.

Perez, set the early pace with a 1’22.148 on the medium tyre, before Verstappen took to the track for his first run of the day, also on the medium tyres. Verstappen set the quickest first sector, but came across the Mercedes of George Russell at Ascari, backing out of the lap and voicing his disapproval over team radio. On his next attempt, Verstappen went fastest of all, almost four tenths faster than his team mate.

Valtteri Bottas had to take avoiding action at the Roggia chicane to not ram into the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz Jnr who appearing to be meandering around the course on his out lap. Bottas took to the escape road to prevent a collision and the stewards announced that the incident was under investigation by the stewards.

After Williams confirmed that Alexander Albon would be replaced by Nyck de Vries for the rest of the weekend, the debutante finally got out onto the track with around 35 minutes left in the session. Mick Schumacher did not have such a luxury, as a clutch problem left him stranded in the garage, unable to get out on track.

As he tried to adapt to his second car of the weekend, De Vries briefly brought out the yellow flags after running wide at the first Lesmo. Despite a trip over the gravel, the Williams recovered back on track and continued his run.

In the final 20 minutes, the track got increasingly busy as teams prepared for qualifying. Verstappen used the soft tyres to set the fastest time of the weekend, a 1’21.252. Leclerc set a personal best time on the softs, but could not get within three tenths of a second of the Red Bull driver. After a cool-down lap, Leclerc’s second effort on his soft tyres saw him improve again, but only by a matter of milliseconds to remain second.

Haas completed clutch repairs on Schumacher’s car to allow them to finally send their driver out in the final ten minutes of the session. Schumacher used the soft tyres to set a lap time just under two tenths slower than team mate Kevin Magnussen in 19th.

When the chequered flag flew at the end of the hour, Verstappen remained at the top to head into qualifying as the fastest driver, despite his five-place grid penalty looming. Leclerc was 0.347s behind in second, with Perez in third a further quarter of a second behind.

Sainz ended the session fourth fastest but will be summoned to the stewards to explain his near-miss with Bottas. Fernando Alonso was fifth for Alpine, ahead of Lando Norris, George Russell. Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon and Lewis Hamilton.

2022 Italian Grand Prix third practice result

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Model	Time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	RB18	1’21.252		19
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	F1-75	1’21.599	0.347	15
3	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	RB18	1’21.848	0.596	26
4	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	F1-75	1’21.897	0.645	17
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’22.306	1.054	17
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’22.319	1.067	19
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	W13	1’22.357	1.105	24
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’22.430	1.178	27
9	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	A522	1’22.506	1.254	17
10	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	W13	1’22.567	1.315	22
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’22.657	1.405	14
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	AT03	1’22.755	1.503	21
13	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’22.776	1.524	19
14	45	Nyck de Vries	Williams-Mercedes	FW44	1’22.869	1.617	21
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	MCL36	1’22.871	1.619	19
16	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	C42	1’22.950	1.698	26
17	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’23.104	1.852	20
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’23.203	1.951	17
19	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari	VF-22	1’23.392	2.140	8
20	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	AMR22	1’23.739	2.487	16

Combined practice results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	FP1 time	FP2 time	FP3 time	Gap	Laps
1	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1’22.840	1’21.807	1’21.252		73
2	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1’22.410	1’21.857	1’21.599	0.347	63
3	55	Carlos Sainz Jnr	Ferrari	1’22.487	1’21.664	1’21.897	0.412	64
4	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull	1’23.661	1’22.394	1’21.848	0.596	73
5	14	Fernando Alonso	Alpine-Renault	1’23.099	1’22.752	1’22.306	1.054	71
6	4	Lando Norris	McLaren-Mercedes	1’23.856	1’22.338	1’22.319	1.067	75
7	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1’22.689	1’22.386	1’22.357	1.105	75
8	22	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’23.260	1’23.217	1’22.430	1.178	84
9	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1’22.831	1’22.503	1’22.567	1.251	71
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine-Renault	1’23.075	1’22.728	1’22.506	1.254	74
11	24	Zhou Guanyu	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’23.570	1’22.938	1’22.657	1.405	72
12	10	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri-Red Bull	1’23.640	1’23.135	1’22.755	1.503	73
13	6	Nicholas Latifi	Williams-Mercedes	1’24.941	1’23.982	1’22.776	1.524	66
14	23	Alexander Albon	Williams-Mercedes	1’23.529	1’22.835		1.583	48
15	45	Nyck de Vries	Williams-Mercedes			1’22.869	1.617	21
16	3	Daniel Ricciardo	McLaren-Mercedes	1’23.511	1’22.911	1’22.871	1.619	71
17	77	Valtteri Bottas	Alfa Romeo-Ferrari	1’23.394	1’22.993	1’22.950	1.698	79
18	5	Sebastian Vettel	Aston Martin-Mercedes		1’23.731	1’23.104	1.852	46
19	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas-Ferrari	1’24.006	1’23.557	1’23.203	1.951	66
20	47	Mick Schumacher	Haas-Ferrari		1’24.586	1’23.392	2.140	17
21	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’23.688	1’23.785	1’23.739	2.436	71
22	99	Antonio Giovinazzi	Haas-Ferrari	1’24.317			3.065	25
23	34	Nyck de Vries	Aston Martin-Mercedes	1’24.731			3.479	22

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